About 110 pupils between the ages of 9 and 10 have participated in the Essay writing competition hosted by the wife of the Vice Chancellor, University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State and President, University of Uyo Women Association,(UWA) Mrs. Rosalyne Essien.
The competition was part of the activities marking the end of her tenure as the President of the Association.
The participants drawn from both the Public and private schools in Uyo were given the topic entitled, “the effects of Covid-19 on the Nigerian Child’ to write on at the Onyema Ugochukwu hall, town campus where the best candidate shall grab the golden cup.
While flagging off the competition at the Weekend, The President of UWA and host, who charged the students to think critically and constructively before writing wished them success in the competition.
He however described the topic as apt and timely as Covid 19 pandemic which had taken a toll on the economic lives of the people had also affected the children to a large extent.
Mrs. Essien noted that she was motivated to organise the essay competition to reawaken the spirit of creativity in the children as many of them have stopped writing and thinking critically due to social media.
Her words, “In 2020, we had thus covid 19 coming into Nigeria, then then the lockdown. We had series of deaths during the period, you heard from the children that some some parents died. Then there was depression.
A lot of people lost their jobs because so many companies folded up. All these things affected the Nigerian child in several ways. Also those children who have not seen their parents for a long time were able to see them, because during the lockdown most families were together.
So the topic was apt and the essence of the essay competition was because a lot of children have diverted from creative writing to using social media, some children might be scrolling the phone through out the day, with the essay competition like this, a child will sit down and think like in our days. So I want the children to sit down and think.”
